Virgin Trains has become the first UK train operator to offer digital Season Tickets, as they move one step closer to getting rid of orange tickets altogether.

The introduction of digital Season Tickets will help to achieve Virgin Trains’ target of fulfilling 50% of tickets in digital format by April 2019*. Available to purchase from the Virgin Trains website, it removes the need to buy Season Tickets at the station and allows customers to select the format they prefer –on their mobile device, in their Apple Wallet or print-at-home.

This is the latest ticketing initiative to be rolled out by Virgin Trains who are leading the industry in the race to eliminate the orange ticket. It follows the launch of digital tickets across all Virgin’s routes and Apple wallet for some ticket types.

John Sullivan, Chief Information Officer at Virgin Trains, said: “We wanted to be the first train operator to offer digital Season Tickets to give our customers more choice and make things simpler – no more queuing at stations! We have a proud record of digital innovation and are excited to once again be leading the way in digital ticketing. Since their introduction, digital tickets we have had a great response from our customers and we’re always looking at ways to build on our success. This latest move will take us a step closer to ensuring all of our customers can benefit, as we aim for 50% of our tickets to be digital by April 2019.”

From today digital Season Tickets are available for weekly Season Tickets between Manchester and Stoke-on-Trent on Virgin Trains services only. The inter-city operator plans to expand the offering to cover monthly and annual season tickets across all Virgin Trains routes in due course.

As part of this move, all Virgin Trains Season Tickets types can now be purchased through the Virgin Trains website removing the need to queue at the station (those currently not available for digital fulfilment will be posted to the customer).